During the first week of March, prominent Chicago media outlets, namely the Tribune and Sun-Times, published negative news stories, columns, editorials, and political cartoons about Luis Gutierrez and his family. These reports focused on a range of issues, including Gutierrez’s place of residence, the FBI’s questioning of him, the role he played in securing his daughter’s employment in a state position, and his daughter’s participation in a 26^th Ward affordable housing program.

One set of commentaries pertains to Gutierrez’s residence outside of his Congressional District. While Gutierrez, like many other members of Congress, lives outside of the Congressional District he represents, his commitment to the 4^th District is unwavering. Gutierrez was raised in this District, and he resided within its boundaries for nearly fifty years. Moreover, Gutierrez’s constant community outreach efforts make him a strongly felt presence and continually heighten his awareness of his constituents’ needs and concerns.

Another story focuses on the FBI’s questioning of Gutierrez about his relationship with a real estate developer. Since all of Gutierrez’s dealings with this developer were entirely legal, the most interesting thing to note about this story is that it includes a quotation from Elida Cruz. Some readers of La Voz might recognize this as the name of a contributor to the campaign against the Puerto Rican Cultural Center spearheaded by the FBI and the creators of the libelous newspaper, El Pito. It is no coincidence that Elida Cruz would be linked to both of these stories. The FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) has a long history of attempting to defame Gutierrez, and the current story about Gutierrez’s squarely legal relationship with a real estate developer should be understood as a part of this history.

The two stories about Gutierrez’s daughter, Omaira Figueroa, highlight her job with the state and her participation in a 26^th Ward affordable housing program. Figueroa’s previous job experiences as a legislative aid and as an assistant sergeant-at-arms for the City Council justly earned her a position with Illinois Commerce Commission. In terms of the 26^th Ward affordable housing program through which Figueroa purchased a condo in 2008, the income for her family of three allowed her to qualify alongside other participants in a program that former Alderman Billy Ocasio created to provide working families in the Humboldt Park area with the opportunity to purchase condos that they might not otherwise be able to afford. Rather than criticize a family that fairly participated in this program, we should celebrate the presence of a young professional family in a neighborhood that too often loses its longstanding residents. What these negative stories ignore is the remarkable number of affordable housing initiatives spearheaded by Billy Ocasio to keep longstanding residents in the Humboldt Park community. These include the La Estancia Apartments built by Bickerdike, the Teresa Roldán Apartments built by Hispanic Housing, the Single Mothers Housing created by LUCHA, as well as the creation of affordable townhouses for families. Each of these programs took shape under the leadership of former Alderman Billy Ocasio. No other alderman in Chicago has as strong a record of providing affordable housing initiatives.

Together, these reports should be viewed as part of a larger, longstanding effort to discredit Luis Gutierrez. Remember that in 1995 the Chicago Sun-Times, in conjunction with the FBI, destroyed one of the most successful Chicago school reform efforts in history at Roberto Clemente high school. Their false reports about Clemente in 1995 waged countless malicious attacks against many of the same figures targeted in the recent stories described above, namely Billy Ocasio and Luis Gutierrez. For more than fifteen years the FBI has conspired with the Chicago Sun-Times to vilify Gutierrez for his strong positions on controversial issues, such as Puerto Rico’s political status and immigration reform.

Gutierrez has lived outside of his district for more than two years, the FBI questioning primarily took place two years ago, his daughter entered her state job more than five years ago, and that same daughter purchased a condo through an affordable housing program nearly two years ago. None of this is current news, so why would these newspapers publish a barrage of negative stories about Gutierrez now? These stories are running just as Gutierrez has become an increasingly prominent critic of Arizona’s anti-immigrant legislation and immigration reform advocate. The juxtaposition of Gutierrez’s outspoken advocacy for immigrants’ rights with the Tribune’s and Sun-Times’ slanderous, anachronistic stories about him, suggests that these media outlets are more interested in furthering a particular political agenda than disseminating important news to their readers. Instead expending so much energy in their attempts to undermine Gutierrez’s credibility, these newspapers should have worked to provide more coverage of the May 1 immigrants’ rights demonstration in which thousands of Chicagoans exercised their collective democratic voice to demand the reform of a failed, discriminatory policy.

by Jonathan Rosa

Enrique Dussel, described by my friend Cornel West as “one of the giants of emancipatory thought and liberation philosophy,” visited Paseo Boricua and met for a breakfast hosted by Executive Director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center José E. López, with several clergy and community leaders from the Humboldt Park area present. It was a fascinating time of conversation regarding topics such as immigration reform, a theology for the immigrant, the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States, Latin America, and everything else in between.

The energy of the conversation was a resilient interaction of sharing our own context of struggle and thoughts with the Argentinean Philosopher of Liberation.  I was greatly impressed at how this giant of a thinker listened intensely and responded to the questions and various analyses going back and forth in rapid fire.

In the course of the lively conversation, we paused to introduce Dussel to Ricardo Jiménez, a former Puerto Rican political prisoner. Among other notable acts, Jiménez volunteered at El Rancor, a drug rehabilitation center. He was a key player in the exposé of the plan known as Chicago 21, which aimed to turn a Puerto Rican community into a bastion of the high-income white-collar class. He assisted in the development of Loyola University’s first Puerto Rican history class, and was a member of the organization that ultimately founded Roberto Clemente High School.

As Enrique Dussel shook Jiménez’s hand he said, “I am shaking the hand of a saint.” As a bystander with some knowledge of the lives of both of these men, I found the moment to be especially tender and humbling.  Dussel knows firsthand what repression and struggle is all about. He should; It nearly killed him.

In 1971, Dussel’s home was bombed by a paramilitary group, forcing him to seek exile in México where he teaches in the department of philosophy at the Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAM). It was his powerful dedication to liberation philosophy that called down the wrath of the group that destroyed his home and attempted to take his life. The plight of the marginalized and the disadvantaged is Dussel’s focus. He believes that the liberation of the oppressed will not happen through a violent uprising such as those that occur under paramilitary groups. This, he says, will only replace one tyrannical ruling body with another, thus perpetuating the injustice. It is Dussel’s wish to not only liberate the downtrodden from the powers that hold them in place, but also to free the oppressors from their need to oppress.

Dussel himself, amazed with the thought provoking dialogue, shared how he impressed he was with the many symbols of cultural expression along Paseo Boricua.  Cheerfully he expressed his appreciation for our time together saying, “I’ve said things that I never have said before today.” In closing, Dussel expressed the importance of those struggling on the margins to know and celebrate their history.  He singled out how Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. provided a vision of the future in his, “I Have a Dream,” speech.  We in the Latino community must provide our people with a vision.

This comment was especially riveting to me.  As a pastor and theologian, I began to ponder and think about what citizenship in God’s kingdom looks like. Heaven has no borders. People there come to-and-fro in peace, regardless of the color of their skin or the language that they spoke in life or their religious views. How would it look on earth if the same principles ruled? If instead of drawing lines around our little bits of land and calling them sacred, we instead opened wide the borders and pulled down the walls and let the world mingle freely?

The official language of heaven is love, as every child who has ever entered a Sunday School classroom knows. The official language of Heaven on Earth should be love as well. No favoritism among the residents of the planet, no elevation of one group or race over another, no hatred on the basis of exterior differences, but rather a shared responsibility in enriching the lives of one another to our mutual benefit. Heaven on Earth is possible. And men like Enrique Dussel seek to make this vision not simply a pretty dream wrapped in a philosophical thought experiment, but rather a concrete reality presided over by a God who is joyfully and unashamedly blind to human differences.

by Rev. Dr. Pedro J. Windsor-García

“¡Obama escucha; Estamos en la lucha!” (“Listen up Obama; We’re in the struggle!”) shouted the thousands of people who gathered in Daley Plaza to commemorate May Day 2010. Humboldt Park community leaders Emma Lozano and Beti Guevara were among those who addressed the public at the immigration reform rally, which was the ending point to a march that began in Union Park.

Politicians such as Jesse Jackson were also in attendance to demand a comprehensive and immediate immigration policy, which President Obama promised during his campaign and has yet to deliver.

Mario, a Mexican student who spent time in a detention center spoke to the hypocrisy of the U.S. government to imprison hard-working immigrants. “I was sent to a detention center not for committing a crime, but because I was brought here through natural currents of immigration.”

May Day comes at the heel of the recent passing of Arizona Senate Bill 1070, which criminalizes all immigrants for failure to carry proof of citizenship and gives Arizona police the power to detain anyone who they suspect to be undocumented. Francisco Andino,16, who attends Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School expressed his disapproval of the bill while at the rally. “I think it’s a racist law and it sounds like it’s against the constitution.” Andino supports making all undocumented immigrants citizens. “This is about having freedom,” said Andino. “We are all in the same world, it doesn’t matter what side of the border you’re on.”

Magdaleno Castañeda

On April 3 National Boricua Human Rights Network (NBHRN) hosted “Jornada 360: A Commemoration of 360 Months of Incarceration and a Celebration of Resistance,” which brought people of all ages from both the community and beyond to recognize the activism and resistance of the Puerto Rican political prisoners and those who have worked towards their release. The event, which was held at Batey Urbano, showcased art work by the political prisoners and literature about their case which comprised an exhibition that covered every inch of the walls inside the Batey.

The event included reflections by former prisoners Alicia Rodríguez, Luis Rosa and Ricardo Jiménez, as well as family members of the prisoners and lawyers who have dedicated themselves to defending the release of the political prisoners, including Jan Susler. This celebration also served to continue raising awareness and support for Oscar López Rivera and Carlos Alberto Torres, who have spent 30 years in prison making them two of the longest held political prisoners in the world.

“Jornada 360” began with Michelle Morales, coordinator of NBHRN, welcoming the audience and introducing former political prisoner Alicia Rodríguez. “It’s good to be here and look at the faces of people that challenge the system,” said Rodríguez. She added, “This is a moment to reflect and give gratitude to all those years of struggle.” Rodríguez congratulated the community for “flourishing and expressing the spirit of Oscar and Alberto,” and noted that her ability to be physically present at the event was a testament to the tenacity of the campaign to free the prisoners. Before ending her reflection, Rodríguez addressed the youth in the audience. “When there is nobody to turn to, you must turn to yourself,” she said. “The ability to endure needs to be passed on to the next generation.” 

Luis Rosa was the second former prisoner onstage and in his reflection he acknowledged all the support received by family and friends. “Sometimes we get credit for a lot of things, but there are people who do not get credit and they carry the same burden and do time with us,” he said. Rosa also applauded the community for continuing the legacy of the political prisoners. “It pleases me to see young faces here. If anything guarantees that we will be here tomorrow, it’s you.”

Ricardo Jiménez was the last former political prisoner presented onstage after being “symbolically released,” as Michelle Morales stated, from a of a prison cell located in front of the Batey. Jiménez was the last of 15 individuals who spent 24 hours in the prison cell in solidarity with Carlos Alberto Torres and Oscar López Rivera. Jiménez thanked everyone for supporting the campaign, in particular the Puerto Rican Cultural Center Executive Director José López and Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos Puerto Rican High School Principal Matthew Rodríguez. Following Jiménez’s reflection the audience sang happy birthday to Jiménez, who was presented with three birthday cakes.

López was next onstage and he invoked the presence of his mother and brother Oscar López Rivera in awarding original silk screens from several of the prisoners to community leaders Irma Romero, Michelle Morales, Alejandro Molina and Jaime Delgado in gratitude for their commitment to the campaign to free the political prisoners and their dedication to the Humboldt Park community. The recipients were both surprised and thankful for receiving the beautiful artwork. Regarding the campaign López said, “These 30 years have been of continuous work without a day of rest.” “Jornada 360” was a well deserved celebration of these three decades of sacrifice and resistance, and also served as motivation to keep on working for the release of Oscar and Carlos Alberto because as López said, “To be fully human, is to be fully free.”

Xavier “Xavi” Luis Burgos

Passing Western Avenue and entering through a humongous steel Puerto Rican flag, marking the entrance to Paseo Boricua and Humboldt Park, what one sees is totally dependent on who you are talking to.

Some see a ghetto. Others see a strong community, and there are those who listen to their iPods and stay clueless. What I guarantee most do not expect to find as they pass old men wearing well-pressed guayaberas is a window-front prison cell with volunteer prisoners.

In 2006, National Boricua Human Rights Network (NBHRN) thought of an idea to bring the issue of the Puerto Rican Political Prisoners to the forefront of the community’s and city’s consciousness.  The organization, which focuses on issues of human rights in the Puerto Rican community in the U.S. and on the island, decided on a new type of performance art that would engage residents, activists, and of course the federal government. At that time one of the two political prisoners, Oscar López Rivera, was completing 25 years in jail. So NBHRN built a mock cell at the window-front of the Café Teatro Batey Urbano Youth Space, exactly 6 feet by 9 feet, with prison bars, a bed, and a toilet. For 25 days straight a volunteer stayed imprisoned for 24 hours with only books, paper, and pen to pass the time. The event even reached the pages of the Chicago Tribune.

“The response was overwhelming,” said NBHRN National Coordinator Michelle Morales, 34. “From the media [to the] community and it was positive! We decided to revisit it this year for the 30 years of incarceration of [political prisoner] Carlos Alberto Torres.” Now, four years later, as one walks down Division Street, white-shirt prisoners can be viewed again, imprisoned behind glass.

On one of my visits to the cell, I met a young woman sitting solemnly on the bed who was very much proud of her contribution. When first hearing about the prison cell project, Julia Montañez, 17, thought, “I wish I could do that. I want to be part of this movement to free the political prisoners.” When asked what her family thinks about her doing this, she said, “They support this and visited me. They support the movement also. We’re a very politically aware family.”

Although all this began in Chicago, it is spreading throughout the country. “I’ve been involved [in NBHRN] for 8 years and this is the first time I see the campaign in an upswing. We’ve developed new chapters in Detroit, New York City, and New England,” said Morales. New York City is also conducting a similar prison cell project in the El Barrio/East Harlem community.

On April 3 the last volunteer prisoner was released from the mock cell followed by a commemorative event at Batey Urbano. That date was chosen because it marks the 30th anniversary of the capture of Alberto Torres alongside 10 other political prisoners. After decades of activism and a swelling movement, all were released by presidential clemency in 1999, except Oscar López Rivera and Haydee Beltrán (who was released last year). April 3 is also the birthday of the last volunteer prisoner, who at one time was a real political prisoner in federal prison.

Ricardo Jiménez, 53, was 23 years old when he was captured by the police in Evanston, Illinois in 1980. “Based on international law, colonialism is a crime against humanity. We were part of a national liberation struggle for Puerto Rico,” said Jiménez in a strong tone. “The 11 who were captured in 1980 were sentenced with a peculiar crime called “seditious conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government.” Though they were not charged with any particular violent crime, the group received sentences ranging from 55-105 years. Jiménez was sentenced to 98 years.

Now Jiménez spends his time ensuring that his two imprisoned compañeros get released just as he was. “We must bring them home,” he says with determination. He recently traveled through the East Coast with the NBHRN sponsored play, “Crime Against Humanity,” visiting the multiple NBHRN chapters, speaking at community centers and universities. The play, which offers firsthand accounts of the suffering the political prisoners experienced while in incarcerated, is co-authored by former political prisoner, Luis Rosa, who was also at the April 3 event.

When asked what she would say to Oscar López Rivera and Carlos Alberto Torres if they were released, Julia Montañez paused and thought carefully for a moment, and with a smile uttered, “I’d say, ‘We did it!’”

A Reflection by Raymond Rodríguez

On February 26 I went to Boston, Mass. to see Matt Rodriguez, Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School principal, speak at Harvard University. He was one of four principals invited to speak about how the school practices social justice. I have been teaching Mathematics at PACHS for three years now. When I listened to Matt speak, I was very proud of our school. We are by no means a perfect school. We have many things to improve on, but I never realized all of the things that we are doing successfully.  

I felt like I was part of a process that helps students realize that they are human beings that deserve dignity. I never realized that we practice social justice because as Matt said, “Social Justice is not a book you can open up and do word problems from.” It is the words you use, the way you stand, the tone of your voice and how you answer questions. Social Justice is the way you live. When Matt was speaking, I could see the faces of the students that have been in my classroom over the past three years. I recalled the lessons I taught and how they have evolved from, “Let’s do this problem,” to trying to figure out, “How does this problem relate to my students?”

Then, Matt recognized one of our school’s founders Ricardo Jiménez (who was also in the audience) and I was forced to think about how many lives our school has touched over the past thirty-eight years. This school has not only improved the lives of our students, but of the teachers as well. Teachers and staff struggle through what social justice is and what it is not at PACHS. We challenge each other’s definitions almost weekly. This critical thinking has helped each one of us develop our own teaching philosophies and our students have helped us refine our teaching styles by always reminding us of the reality we face.

Lolita Lebron - (Center, sitting down)

by Dan Berger

July 4 in Puerto Rico was less a celebration of independence than a demand for it. That night, more than 100 people attended the closing event for Not Enough Space, an art show featuring the works of political prisoners Oscar López Rivera and Carlos Alberto Torres, as well as a replica of the small cells in which they have each spent almost 30 years.

The exhibit was housed at a community center in San Sebastián, which was on the same grounds where scores of vendors and artisans from around the island had come that very weekend to sell homemade hammocks, paintings, leather goods and other materials at the 29th annual Festival de la Hamaca. The first thing festival goers saw upon arrival was a giant banner proclaiming that Puerto Rico awaits the return of López and Torres.

The night before, festival planners awarded one of the island’s renowned linguist, Luz Nereida Pérez, for her work to study and preserve Spanish. She dedicated her award to López, saying the continued incarceration of this San Sebastián native “affects us all.” The town’s mayor, a supporter of Puerto Rican statehood, was one of several speakers at the July 4 finale; he too called for López’ freedom.

Five of the 11 political prisoners released in 1999 attended the closing event, as did the 102-year-old Isabel Rosado. For her lifetime involvement in the struggle for Puerto Rican independence, and in honor of the local artisans, event organizers presented the legendary activist with a hammock.

This event was not the first time that independence supporters gathered that week. Two nights before the closing, two dozen people gathered to hear Puerto Rican Cultural Center director José López speak about the beauty and the struggles of Puerto Rico. And on June 30, more than 150 people came to a wake in Mayagüez in memory of Miguel Sanchez, a shoemaker and longtime activist against the U.S. military presence in Vieques. Independentists from across the island, including Puerto Rican Socialist Party founder Juan Mari Bras, attended his wake and a celebration of his life the following evening. On July 4, Luis Rosa praised Sánchez as both a brilliant strategist and a tireless organizer.

These public events revealed a continuing push for the release of Puerto Rican political prisoners through a unified demand across Puerto Rican civil society. This unity succeeded in winning the unconditional release of one Puerto Rican Nationalist in 1977 and his four comrades in 1979. It won the freedom of 11 more prisoners in 1999. And it effectively removed the U.S. military from the island of Vieques in 2003. In interviews held during the week preceding the July 4 event, leading independence figures—Lolita Lebrón, Nelson Canals, Rita Zengotita, José Fortuño, and Juan Mari Bras, among others—each pointed to this unity of purpose as the reason for the movement’s successes in the past three decades. Such unity has repeatedly made the impossible inevitable.

Irmgard Iglesias lives in San Juan. During the 1970s, she lived in New York City and worked with a Puerto Rican organization called Resistancia Puertorriqueña. As we drove the two hours from San Sebastián to San Juan, Iglesias told me that she never thought the five Nationalists would get out of prison. To her delight they did, and it confirmed for her what she said she has always known: “I’ve never had any doubt that we will get our independence. I know we will be free.”

Dan Berger lives in Philadelphia and is the author of Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity (AK Press, 2006).

Isabel Rosado (Green Shirt)

by Xavier “Xavi” Luis Burgos

In an e-mail sent by Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) President Sharon Hah’s on June 19, it was stated in a swift and inconsequential manner that “[The State of Illinois funded] $1.5 million for costs associated with facility renovations for the construction of a Latino Cultural Center….”

This event comes from the tireless contribution by State Senator Iris Martínez who stated on an historic meeting on May 1 organized by Latina/o student leaders at NEIU that “If I am going to continue to work hard for this institution… I want to make sure that Latinos are [being] catered to.” Now, finally, we, the Latina/o students of the university, have won, after years of being told there was never enough money, space, or time by many administrators!

This struggle began 27-years-ago with the university’s destruction of Albizu-Zapata Portable 1, a small, grassroots student-led space of Latina/o cultural and political affirmation. Fast forward to the present day and organizations like Que Ondee Sola (QOS) magazine alongside the Union for Puerto Rican Students (UPRS) and the Chican@ Mexican@ Latin@ Student Union (ChiMexLa) organizations have spearheaded this struggle with strong support from the Puerto Rican and Mexican communities of Chicago.

With members like Ruthy Venegas, Samuel Vega, Marcuz Erazo, Juan Morales, Jackie Nowotnik, Miosotis Santos and Joshua Cruz alongside Alpha Psi Lambda’s Stephanie Gómez, Jessica Urbina, and Vanesa Corado and the Movimiento Cultural Latino Americano (MCLA) organization this achievement was also made possible.

However, it must be stated that the struggle is not over. Complacency risks decreased funding for Proyecto Pa’Lante and Latino & Latin American Studies program (LLAS) every year. In QOS and in meeting after meeting we have made it a point to write and say “Latina/o Cultural & Resource Center” and not just a “Casa Latina” or anything else. This new space must include the vision that we as Latina/o students have placed out there, which includes the physical centralization of integral Latina/o-focused programs and student organizations. As we have stated before, QOS, UPRS, and the other Latina/o student leaders of NEIU must be at the table of planning and decision-making for this space – it is, after all, owned by the students of NEIU and no one else.

[lang_en]

On Saturday, May 9, U.S. Congressman Luis V. Gutiérrez (D-IL) concluded the first phase of a national effort to document the harm caused to U.S. citizens in the absence of a comprehensive immigration reform, in a rally held at the McCormick Place. Over 2,000 people were present to see “El Gallito” speak.

The rally called on President Barack Obama to act on his campaign promise to carryout immigration reform, recalling his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. In his speech, Obama declared: “Passions fly on immigration, but I don’t know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child.”

Joining Congressman Gutiérrez at the event where many prominent figures including Sen. Roland Burris, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Rev. Jessie Jackson, Rev. Freddy Santiago, Rev. Lynette Santiago, Rev. Shanahan, Rev. Wilfredo de Jesús, State Rep. Susana Mendoza, Commissioner Roberto Maldonado, Ald. Billy Ocasio, Ald. Manny Flores, Ald. Danny Solis, immigrant rights activists Juan Salgado, Josh Hoyt, Emma Lozano and labor leader Tom Belanoff.

In his passionate and insightful speech, Gutiérrez referenced several times Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “Letter from the Birmingham Jail,” drawing on important lessons of the Civil Rights struggle for justice. The Congressman concluded with the following appeal: “Though we have only just passed the first 100 days of the Obama administration, it is the 11th hour for our immigrant community, and there is no time to waste.”[/lang_en]

[lang_en]

On Thursday, February 5, Latino Clergy from across the city came together to announce they would no longer be attending any business or social functions hosted by the City of Chicago. This action was prompted by a growing frustration with city officials over their failure to proportionally include Latinos in key government decisions in accordance their growing population and prominence in the city.

“Latinos will not be sold for $7.99. We don’t want some bacon and eggs, we want a piece of the pie,” stated Reverend Wilfredo de Jesus, of New Life Covenant Church in Humboldt Park in reference to the frequent breakfasts city officials have hosted to pander to Latino leaders.

This effort is supported by Latino Alderman such as Alderman Billy Ocasio and has received the written support of several Latino State Senators and Representatives.[/lang_en]